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Last summer, Viacom and DirecTV feuded over how much a content provider (Viacom) should be paid by a cable or satellite network. In that case, Viacom wanted a 30 percent increase in its fees. DirecTV temporarily pulled Viacom from its network, and Viacom, in turn, temporarily pulled its shows from its own websites. (The companies sorted out their differences less than two weeks later.)

But now, CBS and Time Warner Cable are involved in a similar dispute, except this time, Time Warner says CBS is asking a 600 percent increase, a charge it calls “fictional and ridiculous.”

In retaliation, Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS and its properties (including Showtime) in three major markets: New York City, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The channels went offline as of 5:00pm Eastern Time on Friday afternoon.

"Effective 5:00 PM Eastern Time, Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, and several other markets. We deeply regret this ill-advised action, which is injurious not only to our many affected viewers, but also to Time Warner Cable itself," said CBS, in a statement.

"We agreed to an extension on Tuesday morning with the expectation that we would engage in a meaningful negotiation with CBS," Time Warner Cable said in its statement. "Since then, CBS has refused to have a productive discussion. It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms."

While CBS doesn’t have any major hits at present, the New York Times noted that “the network does have the PGA golf championship coming in a week. Further down the road is the NFL season, which would surely stir outrage if viewers were denied access to the games.”

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Cyrus Farivar
Cyrus is a Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is out now from Melville House. He is based in Oakland, California. Emailcyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@cfarivar